CCC Properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places

The young men of Company 2314-C, Kane, Pennsylvania, study radio code, which enabled them to run the camp's radio station.

Photograph courtesy of the National Archives.

The Wall Street Stock Market Crash of 1929 was the main catalyst that ushered the United States of America into the Great Depression. At the height of the Depression, approximately 24.9% (12,830,000) of Americans were unemployed. Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidency in 1932 and took office the following year. In 1933, Roosevelt’s administration enacted banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, and agricultural programs. These laws and programs would form the New Deal.

One of the earliest work relief New Deal programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The main purpose of the CCC was to alleviate unemployment by providing national conservation work mainly for young unmarried men. Projects ranged from planting trees to building parks, flood barriers, and handling forest fires. At its peak, the CCC had 500,000 men employed at once and provided work for a total of more than 3 million men throughout its nine-year run (1933 – 1942).

Pay rates for the employed men, was left to the president’s discretion and was set at $30 a month, $25 of which went to the enrollee's family. Despite President Roosevelt having control over much of the program, such as with pay, “an amendment outlawing racial discrimination was virtually the only congressional limitation on his authority.” ^[1] During the 1930s, segregation was continued to be deemed appropriate due to the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling of “Separate but Equal” in 1896. Therefore, separate “Colored" CCC camps were set up for young African Americans. By the time the program concluded, there has been approximately 150 camps for the over 200,000 African Americans that had been employed by the CCC.

Native Americans were barred from joining the CCC during the start of the program, but this restriction was lifted within a few weeks of the program’s conception due to the terrible conditions on the majority of reservations. The Office of Indian Affairs within the Department of the Interior handled the Indigenous enrollees and applying the CCC program on reservations. By the end of the CCC program, more than 80,000 Native Americans had participated.

President Franklin Roosevelt visited with CCC enrollees at Big Meadows, Skyline Drive, Virginia on August 12, 1933. Seated from left are Maj. Gen. Paul B. Malone, Louis M. Howe, Harold L. Ickes, Robert Fechner, FDR, Henry A. Wallace, and Rexford Tugwell.

Photograph courtesy of the National Archives Catalog.

In 1933, less than three months after the first CCC enrollees were settled at Camp Roosevelt, located in Virginia, 300,000 men from across the country had been enrolled, moved, and settled in about 1,500 camps throughout the U.S. Each camp had a typical capacity of 200 men.

By the end of the program’s fifth year, in 1937, the CCC has established itself as a successful project, garnering enormous public support. At the time of its fifth year, more than halfway through the program’s active years, there were more than 3,500 camps operating. However, the number of camps began to decline in 1938 with 1,500 camps remaining in operation by April 1939. The future of the CCC was determined by the outbreak of World War II and the unemployment crisis easing. In September 1940, the United States began providing military supplies to their allies, which led to a consensus that the CCC’s work should shift toward national defense.

Despite the efforts to modify the CCC to adapt to the shift to supporting national defense, the program was being slowly phased out. As young men left the CCC for better job opportunities, it became harder to recruit replacements. On April 1, 1941, CCC camps were reduced from 1,500 to 1,100. On June 30, 1942, after America’s entry into WWII, Congress voted to liquidate the CCC.

While the CCC program did not last forever, it accomplished so much during its nine years. By the time the CCC program ended, more than 3 million men had served in more than 4,500 camps across the country. The men had planted over 3 billion trees, combated soil erosion and forest fires, occasionally dealt with natural disasters, helped establish hundreds of parks and recreation areas, and was the inspiration for a new program, the American Climate Corps. The American Climate Corps initiative starting in 2023 with a mission to place young people in the clean energy, conservation and climate resilience sectors. In June 2024, the first class of American Climate Corps enrollees were inducted into the program where they will be working in a variety of paid positions through federal, state, and local partnerships. The significance of the CCC’s work has not gone unnoticed, with camps and other properties worked on by the CCC listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This project highlights a few of these sites.

The CCC in Numbers

• Approximately 75% of CCC enrollees worked on projects administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Camps not under the U.S. Department of Agriculture were mainly given to the Department of the Interior, which assigned the employees to the National Park Service. 
• Men enrolled in the CCC planted over 3 billion trees, constructed more than 6 million erosion control structures, built over 125,000 miles of roads and trails, and spent 4 million workdays controlling forest fires. 
• The CCC helped establish more than 800 parks and recreation areas. 
• There are currently over 500 CCC related sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Highlighted CCC Properties Listed in the National Register

CCC Properties listed in the National Register

This list includes properties that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. These properties have the Civilian Conservation Corps (and variations on spelling and abbreviations) in the architect field. Generated in September, 2024

CCC Properties listed in the National Register

Ref#	Property Name	Status	State	County	City	Street & Number	External Link	Architects/Builders	Category of Property	Listed Date	Restricted Address

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Additional Resources

CCC Legacy

Civilian Conservation Corps (nps.gov)

The CCC Years: 1933 - 1940 (nps.gov)

The Civilian Conservation Corps: Cedar Breaks National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, Zion National Park (nps.gov)

End Notes

[1] Joseph Speakman, "Into the Woods: The First Year of the Civilian Conservation Corps," Prologue Magazine 38, no. 3 (Fall 2006): 2, https://arkansas-ccc.com/bibliography/speakman_2006.pdf.

Bibliography

"About the American Climate Corps." American Climate Corps. Accessed September 4, 2024. https://www.acc.gov/about/.

Barnett, James P., and Anna C. Burns. "The Work of the Civilian Conservation Corps: Pioneering Conservation in Louisiana." Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 2016. https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/40601.

Brock, Julia. History of the CCC in Rocky Mountain National Park. Boulder, CO: Rocky Mountain National Park, 2005. https://books.google.com/books?id=Uk14ym_O464C.

"Civilian Conservation Corps." Encyclopedia Britannica. Last modified 2023, Accessed August 24, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Civilian-Conservation-Corps.

"Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal." Library of Congress. Accessed August 24, 2024. https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/franklin-delano-roosevelt-and-the-new-deal/.

Pfaff, Christine. The Bureau of Reclamation's Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy: 1933-1942. Denver, CO: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 2010. https://books.google.com/books?id=ok7YWiWtKLYC.

Speakman, Joseph. "Into the Woods: The First Year of the Civilian Conservation Corps." Prologue Magazine, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Fall 2006): 1-11. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/ccc.html.

Thompson, Lucas and Ariel Weil. "White House Swears in First Class of American Climate Corps." NBC News. June 18, 2024.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/white-house-swears-first-class-american-climate-corps-rcna157562.

The content for this article was researched and written by Eliza Vegas, an intern with the National Register of Historic Places.